violated like that. i've seen the pictures researching. she looks good, but come on. >> i saw it on friday and my heart goes out to her. people say on twitter, she's the duchess of cambridge, she has no private life now. but i feel for her, i do. sunny hostin, thank you very much. good to see you back here on the case with us. and thank you so much for watching. i'm brooke baldwin back here in the slot here in the afternoon. now to washington. in fact, it's joe johns in for wolf blitzer today. joe, to you. happening now, mitt romney retools his campaign trying to stop his slide in the poll. during this hour, we'll hear live from the three other men at the top of the tickets. president obama's in ohio. joe biden and paul ryan are in iowa. and as their country falls apart and a civil war approaches their city, thousands of syrians have nowhere to hide. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm joe johns.

and you're in "the situation room." we begin with mitt romney who's just unveiled a new campaign strategy just 50 days before the election. in a speech this afternoon, romney refocused on the economy and got specific about how he would reduce the size of government. cnn national political correspondent jim acosta is in los angeles where romney spoke to the u.s. hispanic chamber of commerce. jim, today it looks like romney is reaching out to latino voters. >> reporter: that's right, joe. he's doing just that. but he's also according to his campaign unveiling some of the details of his economic plan. just as voters are starting to pay attention to this election.

but there are new distractions out there. namely a campaign blame game that does not go over well 50 days before an election. after a week of gop handwringing over his response to violence in the middle east, mitt romney is rebooting his message, returning to the issue that has driven his campaign from the beginning. the economy. >> it's time for a president who's committed to cutting spending and balancing the budget. and i know how to do that. we balanced the bajt budget in my company and in the olympics. >> reporter: in a speech to the hispanic chamber of commerce, he offered remedies to the deficit he rarely talks about. the retooled approach is backed up with plain language in new ads. >> got to balance the budget. you've got to cut the deficit. >> reporter: but a new distraction for romney emerged late sunday when politico reported finger-pointing inside the campaign. much of the blame game is aimed

at senior strategist stuart stevens, romney's image guru, known as the most popular man in the world. politico blamed stevens for clint eastwood's rant at the gop convention. >> governor sarah palin of the great state of alaska. >> reporter: still, the talk of a rift is a reminder of the infighting over sarah palin that threw john mccain off course four years ago. romney would rather focus on china. so he slammed president obama's announcement of a trade complaint against the communist country. >> if i'd known that all it took to get him to take action was run an ad citing his inaction on china's cheating, i would have run one a long time ago.

>> reporter: the obama campaign fires back with this. >> around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and guard towers. and we said, gosh, i can't believe that you keep these girls in. they say, no, no, no, this is to keep other people from coming in, because people want so badly to come work in this factory that we have to keep them out. >> reporter: on a campaign conference call, advisers declined to discuss the video. >> you can call bain and ask them what they did. >> reporter: a source says the firm did not buy the factory referred to in the video. now, mitt romney also talked about the issue of immigration accusing the president of playing politics with the lives of young children with that stopgap measure on the dream act. meanwhile, mitt romney also left out of his speech any talk of self-deportation. that was a phrase that he used

during the primaries. that was not in his speech. it's an acknowledgment the romney campaign knows it has to soften its rhetoric on immigration if it wants latino voters. >> has governor romney at all addressed these reports of infighting in the campaign? >> reporter: as a matter of fact, after his speech here in los angeles, we tried to go up to the gop nominee and ask him that question. he did not respond to our question. but he did do an interview with telemundo earlier this afternoon. and he told telemundo he's happen with his campaign staff and his top advisers are staying put. >> jim acosta, thanks so much for that report. romney's retooling comes just after politico published a detailed insider's account of his campaign's recent stumbles based on interviews with unnamed staffers. politico executive editor jim vandehei is one of the article's authors. jim, as we read through that report, i've read it a couple of times, it really paints quite a

picture of the romney campaign over the last several weeks. what's the takeaway? >> well, first off, thanks for having me on, joe. ting takeaway is you have a campaign that's really sort of hit real turbulence. i think it really started after the convention where you started to have a lot of conservatives, "the wall street journal," "the weekly standard," trent lott. other republican officials followed them in criticizing romney on the record saying he's not being specific enough, he's not making an affirmative case for how he would govern more effectively than barack obama. internally it's caused a lot of unease and a lot of finger-pointing. a lot of those fingers are pointed at stuart stevens, who is basically the karl rove of this campaign. he runs the campaign, controls the message. probably has more authority than anyone else in the campaign right now. and he's really advocated this campaign of caution, one that would keep the emphasis on president obama and not on the specificity of how mitt romney would govern.

and that's what's caused so much unease both internally and externally. so the big question is, can they sort of calibrate it right? can they come up with a new strategy that's specific enough to excite conservatives but not so specific that it just gives more ammunition to barack obama to use in ads and to use in campaign speeches? >> now, correct me if i'm wrong, jim, when i read through that article, i really get the sense -- sort of feels like the type of article you'd read after election day, that you're almost sort of writing, if you will, the epitaph of this campaign. why write it now? >> because we had the goods, the reporting to be able to back up the piece. that was what was a little unusual was that this many people were providing this level of detail about the internal operations of a campaign in real time. as you said, joe, usually that happens after the campaign. i think what it reflects is real unease with the direction of the campaign and a real desire to get it right.

republicans still believe -- and i think sort of the data backs it up. they have a very winnable election here. they're running against an incumbent in a bad economy with high unemployment, with record numbers of people on food stamps, with the median family income at a 20-year low. so they have an environment where they should be able to have some success. and i think that's the message you're hearing from conservatives. i hear it every day in e-mails and phone calls of conservatives who talk to mitt romney saying he's got to come up with specifics because republicans, particularly intellectual conservatives, are the folks at "the wall street journal," "the weekly standard," the people close to paul ryan, they believe you win elections when you have a war of ideas. they think they can win the battle of ideas over medicare, the size of government, tax reform on every one of those issues, trade, which was talked about a little bit today. that's why they're frustrated. they don't get the level of specificity they hoped for out of mitt romney. >> there are a lot of stories

within the story in this report. including the talk about the hastily written speech that was sort of rewritten in the last days leading up to that acceptance speech in tampa. the fact that they left out the real mention of the troops there. also that romney's chief strategist essentially has basically been wearing three different huge hats in this billion-dollar enterprise of a campaign. what were some of the things that really surprised you in the reporting? >> well, i think what surprised us is, looking back at the convention -- which leaving tampa, i thought it was a fine convention. i didn't think it was remarkable. i didn't think it was a bad convention. there were a lot of good speeches. they were able to highlight the next generation of republican leaders. but there were some tactical mistakes. not giving ann romney the primetime slot instead of christie christchris christie on day one. clearly giving clint eastwood that much time on stage without

any direction whatsoever what to say was a huge mistake. and then the one that you mentioned, not mentioning the troops, not mentioning afghanistan and not mentioning al qaeda. in retrospect, a huge, huge oversight, especially for a republican. but anybody running in this environment, when you have troops overseas, when you have people dying, when you have a war with 77,000 troops still in the theater of combat, not to mention it, it just ticked off a lot of conservatives. and rightly so because they want to talk about these issues. >> let's talk a little bit about the relationship between mitt romney and his team. there's this quote i'd like to put up on the screen for you. "mitt is a sticker, he stays with you. he had a reputation at bain for sticking with people. they made a bad investment, he hung with them. none of this is going to be fixed. this is the organization and this is who mitt is betting on to win. there aren't going to be any further changes." it sor of raises the question of mitt romney and his ability to

manage the country if he can't manage his own campaign. >> well, i don't know that there's always a direct correlation between the efficiency of a campaign and the effectiveness of governance. i think they're two different skill sets. but when you're making the argument that you're mr. fix-it who can bring efficiency to the white house, it does raise some questions. you raised a good point in your question. a lot of the fingers are pointed at stuart stevens. i'm not here to defend or not defend him. i will say that a lot of republicans for both this story who have called today say the real culprit at the end of the day is always the boss. these campaigns always reflect the candidate. he set up this structure. he chose stuart stevens. he's sticking with stuart stevens. this is a campaign that romney wanted. it's a campaign that romney wants and it's the one he's going to have for the final seven weeks of the campaign. voters will decide whether that was impressive. voters will decide whether or not he was persuasive. they have time. they have three debates.

those are the big moments in presidential politics. and i think that's why a lot of the work right now inside the romney camp is trying to clear away this intrigue to focus on the debates, get him prepared to go toe to toe with barack obama and use that forum to show that he's a different kind of leader than barack obama. and at the end of the day, not just different, a better one in the eyes of those 6% to 10% of people who have not made up their mind. >> jim vandehei, thanks for that. good to see you. >> thanks for having me. in ohio right now, president obama is speaking at a campaign rally. we'll take you there live. and a look inside a city where a bloody civil war is getting closer and people have nowhere to run.

dad vo: ok, time for bed, kiddo. lights out. ♪ (sirens)

(train horn) ♪ vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

president obama is campaigning in the swing state of ohio. he was in cincinnati earlier. now he's in clims olumbus in sh park. let's listen in. >> i don't believe that firing teachers or kicking students off of financial aid is somehow going to grow our economy. that's not going to help us compete against all the scientists and engineers coming out of china. and after all we've been

through, does anybody really think that somehow rolling back regulations on wall street that we put in place to make sure we don't have another taxpayer-funded bailout, that somehow that's going to be good for the small businesswoman here in columbus or help the construction worker get back on the job? ohio, we have tried what they're selling. we tried it. we've been there. it didn't work. we don't like it. we're not going back. we're not going back. we're not going back. we don't -- see, we don't believe that the answer to our challenges is just to tell folks, you're on your own. we think we're all in this together. you look at this crowd. people of every walk of life.

that's what america is. and we don't believe this economy grows from the top down. we think it grows from the middle out, from the bottom up. think about it. when i cut taxes on middle class families, why did i do that? because when you guys have a little more money in your pocket, what happens? you spend it. because you need to. you've got expenses. so then you decide you buy a new computer for your kid going off to college or you finally trade in that old beat-up car you've g got. and so businesses then, they have more profits. they've got more customers. that means they're hiring more workers. that means those folks then have more money to spend. the whole economy does better.

if you give a tax break to a billionaire, you can only buy so many yachts. right? at a certain point, you stop. so it doesn't do the same thing for the economy. so not only is it the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do for us to grow to make sure that middle class families are strong and people who are poor and willing to work hard to get into the middle class, that they've got a chance. that's our vision. that's why we're not going backwards. that's why we're going forward. that's why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states.

now, hold on a second. i want you to know, though, because some of you may not have been paying attention at the convention because you were still thinking about michelle and how good she was. [ cheers ] or maybe you're still talking about president clinton and how he broke it down. well, i want everybody to be clear. the path i'm offering isn't quick or easy. it's going to take more than a few years. to deal with all the challenges that we face. but let me tell you something, when i hear the other side talking about how the nation's in decline, i tell them, you must not be getting out much because this is america. and we've still got the best workers in the world and the

best entrepreneurs in the world and the best scientists and researchers in the world, and the best colleges and universities in the world. and there's not a country on earth that wouldn't trade places with us right now. so i'm confident our problems can be solved. our challenges will be met. the path i offer is harder, but it leads to a better place. because it allows everybody to prosper. prosper anybody who's willing to work hard can get ahead. i'm asking you to choose that future. and i'm asking you to rally around a specific set of goals to create new manufacturing jobs and to strengthen our energy sector and improve education and bring down our deficit and turn the page on a decade of war. that's what i intend to accomplish in the next four years. that's why i'm running for a second term. i need those four years to get all that done.

so let me just break down this plan very clearly. part one, we are going to export more products and we're going to outsource fewer jobs. after a decade where manufacturing had been declining, this country has now created over the last 2 1/2 years over 500,000 new manufacturing jobs. a whole lot of them right here in ohio. when there were some who said, just let detroit go bankrupt, when there were folks who were willing to walk away from all the jobs that are supported here in ohio by the auto industry, i bet on american workers. and three years later -- >> that's president obama in columbus, ohio. shiller park, in fact, which is part of german village right off the downtown area there in that capital of the battleground state.

we've been listening to the president explain why he says he needs four more years to, among other things, fix the issues facing the country. the vice presidential contenders are in iowa this hour. republican nominee paul ryan will be speaking in des moines. and we will take you there. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? i've been a superintendent for 30 some years at many different park service units across the united states. the only time i've ever had a break is when i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved. now, i'm going to be able to have the time to explore something different. it's like another chapter. with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life

with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing.

ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. go to cymbalta.com playing sports is just my whole life. looking back if it wasn't for shriners hospital, things would just be really different. i lost my leg when i was a kid. shriners turned my whole life around. send your love to the rescue. donate today. a united nations investigator says islamic fundamentalist fighters with their own agenda is among the more alarming trends in syria's civil war. cnn international correspondent nic robertson found that constant danger has become a way of life. >> reporter: driving back into

damascus after an absence of eight months. clouds of black smoke signal conflict is closing in on syria's capital. but first impressions are deception. all appears fran quill. no one flinches when artillery fire explodes nearby. supplies are plenty. we've tried talking to several storekeepers here. but they all tell us they're too afraid to talk on camera, worried about what the government might say, worried about what the rebels might do to them. they all tell us despite the abundance of people here, business is down. when i ask them about the shelling that we can hear in the background, they tell me they're worried, afraid. afraid because they think the war is getting closer. and they are right. ten minutes' drive away, destruction where government

forces chase the free syrian army. on many days, the death toll around the capital, far higher than for other cities. but where they can, people are trying to hold on to their old lives. for this woman, that's a few minutes at the beauty salon. it may look like normal life, but it's not. >> every day we're hearing this boom, boom. and everything else -- there is a lot going on. >> reporter: you don't worry about it? >> i worry. i'm worried sick about it. but there's nothing we can do. >> reporter: she tells me she hates the killing, supports neither government nor rebels, wants them to talk, feels stuck in the middle. so, too, the salon's owner. >> i cannot go to the countrysides without being worried somebody will stop me. is it the real army or the other army stopping me?

what answer i should answer if they ask me with whom i am? so it's really difficult now because you are really stuck in the middle. >> reporter: at a news conference under the banner of unity, an array of anything but united opposition figures call for talks with the government. reality is, none of the armed opposition, like the free syrian army, are here. they'd be arrested. the groups gathered here are the ones the government tolerates. they know they are powerless. with nightfall, the city looks serene. but like daytime, it's deceptive. the shelling continues. the only talking now is with guns. nic robertson, cnn, damascus, syria. mitt romney retools his campaign trying to stop his slide in the polls. but is the problem with strategy or the candidate?

paul begala and mary madlin are standing by. and paul ryan will be speaking live in iowa and we'll take you there. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card!

pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? or double miles on every purchase, every day! president obama: i'm barack obamthis message.ve... anncr: he keeps saying it... mitt romney: this president cannot tell us that you're... better off today than when he took office. anncr: well... here's where we were in 2008... tv anncr: the worst financial collapse... since the great depression... tv anncr: american workers were laid off in numbers not seen... in over three decades. anncr: and here's where we are today... thirty months of private sector job growth. creating 4.6 million new jobs. we're not there yet. but the real question is: whose plan is better for you? the president's plan asks millionaires... to pay a little more... to help invest in a strong middle class. clean energy.

and cut the deficit. mitt romney's plan? a new 250,000 dollar tax break for... multi-millionaires. roll back regulations on the banks that cratered the economy. and raise taxes on the middle class. president clinton: they want to go back to the same old... policies that got us in trouble in the first place. president obama: we're not going back, we are moving forward. anncr: forward.

trick question. i love everything about this country! including prilosec otc. you know one pill each morning treats your frequent heartburn so you can enjoy all this great land of ours has to offer like demolition derbies. and drive thru weddings. so if you're one of those people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day, block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

joining me now for today's strategy session are two of our political contributors, paul begala here in washington and from new orleans, republican strategist mary matalin. mary, i want to start with you. we've heard all this talk about a strategy change right now. why on earth a strategy change at this point 50 days out? >> well, we've heard three different accounts. and they were all different and contradicted each other. and this campaign is not retooling. and contrary to what you said coming in, joe, romney is not sliding. it's a dead heat in all the swing states and in states that barack obama won by double digits in the last go-round. he's barely keeping up with mitt romney. or he's only one point ahead. what i heard in park city from the campaign way back when was that there would be a sequencing. the convention would be the opportunity to unify and enthuse the base and say, who is mitt

romney? after labor day, they'd start laying out as he has today the specific, flesh out the specifics, which have always been there but will say them going to the final day, as opposed to the president who's been campaigning for three years and has a failed record for three years. we are where we always would be in the final home stretch. i find these stories a little overwritten. but that also happens with the media in the last stretch of the campaign. >> paul, take off your super pac hat, if you will, for just a minute here, and give me a sense of strategy. what do you think mitt romney ought to do? >> actually he ought to listen to mary matalin. i'm sure she's probably helping her party. the most important thing he could have done at his convention -- i think it's too late 50 days from the election, is to show us he'd be a different kind of republican. not a democrat. we understand he's in a different party. but the country really doesn't

want to go back to the policies that caused the mess. one of the most effective speeches we saw this year was my old boss, president clinton, who basically said the romney agenda is to go back to massive tax cuts for the rich, massive deficits and deregulation of wall street. that's what got us into this mess to begin with. he needed to show not just he's different from president obama but from president george w. bush and the old failed republican ideas. >> let me ask you both simply, if he were to pick one or two specific that is he needs to address, what would those specifics be, mary, starting with you? >> i think he's fine. he needs to continue to make the contrast clear. just because bill clinton says something, even if he says it well, doesn't make it so. romney is not proposing going back to anything remotely like paul just described. they have to mischaracterize what he's been saying. what he'll continue to emphasize

in the debate is a robust, pro-growth, limited agenda, increasing trade. if anybody went back, it's back to the old clinton era tactics of making up what the other side is proposing. that's not at all what mitt romney is proposing. >> paul, specifics, what should mitt romney do, especially considering the fact that the president himself has been hit for not being specific enough this time around? >> first off, mary just gave us more specifics in 30 seconds than mitt romney did at his convention in 30 minutes. he should be listening to mary and not to whoever it is he's listening to. let me isolate wurngs though. tax reform. governor romney has proposed massive tax cuts on the very rich. $250,000 a year if you make more than $3 million a year. he says he'll pay for it by

closing loopholes. he won't tell us which loopholes. he won't even show us which loopholes he himself benefits from. he needs to release his tax returns. show us the loopholes he's taken advantage of. nobody thinks he's done anything illegal. but he's probably been aggressive about using legal loopholes like his accounts in the cayman islands or luxembourg or other places. >> mary, if you want to respond to that, go ahead. >> yes, it was not an independent study. it was a study that was rebuked by its own author, one of the authors of it worked for obama. what romney has said specific is that the loopholes he would close is corporate welfare. he would means tests those kinds of benefits that are in the tax

code for rich people like paul begala. but people on lower incomes would be able to keep their mortgage deduction charitable. most broad-based incentivizing loopholes would stay open. but the big ones would be clothe. it's a growth agenda. that incentivizes investment. and he'll do debt reform, deficit retirement. this president has had four consecutive years of trillion-dollar deficits. he has a $16 trillion national debt which exceeds our gdp. by putting paul ryan on the ticket, romney said specifically and loudly and clearly, we need adult responsible reform starting with our debt retirement so we're not doing an intergenerational theft and immorally burdening our children with the debt we've accrued. >> mary, i think i heard you say there's really not a strategy problem here. so i want to ask you whether you

think there's at least a bit of a problem with the candidate. there's a cnn poll, i think we can put it up on the screen, that essentially says 48% of likely voters are voting for mitt romney while 47% of likely romney voters want to vote against president obama. so does mitt romney really have to give people something to vote for or just keep giving people something to vote against? >> they're not mutually exclusive. he doesn't even have to tell them what to vote against. they're living it day in and day out. every time they go to the gas pump or the grocery store, they're living that. and he can say, here's how my policies would make it better. here's how his policies have made it worse. along the lines of what i just said. but they're not mutually exclusive. it doesn't matter if people are voting against or for. they come to the same end, which is that we need new leadership, we need a new president, we need a new direction for the 21st century or we're going to end up like our friends and our

brethren across the ocean there. >> paul begala and mary matalin, thanks so much. good to see you today. and republican vice presidential nominee paul ryan will be speaking live in iowa. we'll take you there when he shows up. woman 1: this isn't just another election. we're voting for... the future of our medicare and social security.

man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security. and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affect seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org humans -- sometimes life trips us up. and sometimes, we trip ourselves up, but that's okay. at liberty mutual insurance we can "untrip" you as you go through your life with personalized policies and discounts when you need them most. just call... and speak with a licensed representative about saving on your policy when you get married, move into a new house... [crash!] or add a car to your policy.

don't forget to ask about saving up to 10% when you combine your auto and home insurance with liberty mutual. security, coverage, and savings. all the things humans need to make our beautifully imperfect world a little less imperfect. call... and lock in your rate for 12 months. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

chicago's teachers accuse democratic mayor rahm emanuel of bullying tactics today after the city went to court to end a week-long strike.

over the weekend, both sides thought they had a deal. cnn's ted rowlands has more on what's gone wrong. ted? >> reporter: joe, it looked like it was a done deal. the negotiations were tough, lasted more than a week. they came to a deal. but then yesterday when the teachers were supposed to vote on this deal and specifically vote to end the strike, they decided not to. instead of voting on the tentative deal, teachers decided to wait. >> contract was presented but there was some indecision. >> reporter: the delay triggered an immediate and aggressive response from chicago mayor rahm emanuel who is now seeking an injunction to force teachers back to work. in a statement, emmanuel said, i will not stand by while the children of chicago are played as pawns in an internal dispute within a union. the mayor and the school district want teachers back in the classroom while the union figures out if they want the contract. >> the fact that they can't is

extremely disappointing to me. they need to be in the classroom. we're losing ground every day they're not there. >> reporter: this group of parents among tens of thousands in the second week of trying to figure out what to do with their kids each day say they, too, want teachers to hurry up and read the proposal and go back to work while details are hammered out. >> besides the day care issue, it's just they need to be in school. their competitors at charter schools and at private schools are all in learning while our kids are not. >> reporter: the teachers union is upset with emanuel's decision to file for an injunction, calling him a bully. they're asking parents to be patient. do you need this much time to make a decision? >> well, we have 26,000 members. and they're all able to read this document and take some time to discuss its merits or its deficiencies. >> reporter: and that is exactly what's going on today. everybody, all the teachers are reading this agreement.

tomorrow, we are expecting that this vote will take place at some point. and the vote is to end the strike. so it's possible the kids could be back in school wednesday morning. >> that's certainly good news if that works out. thanks so much for that report, ted rowlands. republican nominee paul ryan is speaking in des moines. we'll take you there. >> and those of us in the big ten and the midwest, we want honest government. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered,

supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪

both vice presidential candidates are in iowa this afternoon. gop nominee congressman paul ryan is speaking right now in the state capital of des moines. let's listen to him. >> what we want, what we

deserve, what we need in this country is honest money. we want our money to be reliable. we want our money to be something we can count on. and i've got to tell you, all this money-printing might help the big banks and wall street, but it doesn't help the rest of us. if you're saving, if you're living on savings, if you're living on a fixed income, if you're worried about what your energy big is going to cost, what it costs to cool yourous in the summer or heat it in the winter or what your gas price or food bill is going to be, if you're living on a fixed income like cds or savings, this does not help you. this hurts you. what we don't want are more bailouts, more printing, more regulating, more borrowing, more washington knows best. what we want are pro-growth economic policies that are proven to work. we want people to go back to work by growing this economy, not by growing government.

the problem we have is not unlike the problem many other countries have. for decades, politicians from all political parties have made lots of empty promises to get votes and sooner or later, when the borrowing runs out or when we can't borrow like we have, those empty promises become broken promises. that's what europe's involved in right now. they're in a debt crisis. they're slashing benefits for retirees right now, cranking up tax rates. young people have no opportunities. that's the future we will have if we don't get this situation under control. president obama, when he was running for president, said that a $10.6 trillion debt was unpatriotic. it's a $16 trillion debt now. i wonder what he would call that. he's presided over $5 trillion increase in our debt.

you know, janna and i live over in janesville, wisconsin. very similar to iowa. and by the time our three kids are my age, the size of the government we have today will be double in size what it is then. we e-- when my kids are my age, we have to take 40 cents out of every dollar to pay for this government at that time. this is unsustainable. our government right now borrows about 30 cents of every borrow we spend. and half of that comes from other countries like china. this isn't working. and president obama has had four chances, four opportunities to do something about this. what did he do? he gave us four budgets with trillion-dollar deficits every year. he went golfing and did a lot of other things. your share, every americans'

share of this debt, every man, woman and child, on inauguration day, it was $35,000 per person. today it's $51,000 per person. the share of the debt for our households went up $46,000. we can't keep doing this. and if we don't get ahead of this problem, if we don't tackle these problems, they will tackle us. this is not only a threat to our current economy to jobs right now, but it's guaranteeing that the next generation has a diminished future. we've never done that before in this country. every generation has always fixed its problems so that the next generation is better off. that's the american legacy. look, iowans, you understand this. iowa, you have the lowest average credit card debt in the nation. people in iowa live within their means. you let govern-- you elect gove

who is balance the budget. you're frugal. >> republican vice presidential nominee, congressman paul ryan, in a sweet spot there really talking about the budget, the budget deficit and the united states government responsibilities. we'll listen in as some of the other candidates talk around the country, including vice president bide whn who's also i iowa. a new report alleges sabotage at one of iran's nuclear facilities. their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ]

[ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. i i had pain in my abdomen...g. it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life. warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge.

when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost.. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. so i brought it to mike at meineke. we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. protesters and arrests are causing deja vu on wall street. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room."

what do you have? >> hi, joe. it was police versus protesters in the streets of manhattan today as demonstrators marked the one-year anniversary of the so-called occupy wall street movement. more than 100 of them were arrested largely for disorderly conduct. hundreds of people camped out on wall street and protests. at its peak, it spread to cities throughout the united states. she spent 15 years under house arrest. now suu kyi is beginning a landmark tour of the u.s. she is scheduled to receive the congressional gold medal on wednesday. suu kyi was elected to myanmar's parliament earlier this year. and the question is, where is charlie dowd? the 69-year-old retired firefighter was traveling by train from san francisco to montreal, canada, last week. but when his train arrived in chicago friday, he wasn't on it. his luggage, cell phone and

medication were found in his compartment. he last spoke to his son or thursday saying he was in denver, colorado. the family's set up a facebook page to help find him, facebook.com/missingperson charliedowd. apple says its iphone 5 is the fastest selling device the company's ever released. the tech giant announced today it took more than 2 million preorders in the first 24 hours alone, shattering the record of 1 million preorders in the same time period for the iphone 4s last october. the first batch of new phones is going to be in customers' hands in friday. we're not even talking about the long lines of people who are going to show up at the store trying to get one at the store. but hot property there. >> that's for sure. tell you what, everybody wants the iphone. i guess it's the bigger screen, wouldn't you think? >> yeah. do you have an iphone? i have one. and i love it. >> i've been looking hard. >> put that on your holiday list.

iphone 5 for joe johns, everybody. >> thanks, lisa. you're in "the situation room." happening now, new claims of an attack at a major iranian nuclear facility. was an alleged power outage really an attempt to sabotage the country's mysterious nuclear program? plus, he ran against mitt romney in the gop primaries and served under president obama. ahead, you'll want to hear how form ambassador jon huntsman responds when i ask him if he's willing to serve in a romney administration. and a especially delivery right here in washington, d.c. all eyes on the panda cam for a first glimpse of an amazing cub years in the making. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm joe johns. and you're in "the situation room."

new claims of an attack on iran's nuclear program disguised as an alleged power outage at a key nuclear facility. this let's go straight to cnn intelligence correspondent suzanne kelly for the latest. this is quite a story. >> it is. the head of iran's atomic energy association is warning against terrorists and sabatours. iran says this time it was the power lines leading to its heavily fortified nuclear enrichment facility at fordo that came under attack. a power outage could damage centrifuge machines. the announcement comes as the u.s. pushes israel to set red lines. benjamin netanyahu telling cnn's candy crowley sunday that the

world can't afford to wait on iran. >> they're moving very rapidly to completing the enrichment of the uranium that they need to produce a nuclear bomb. in six months or so, they'll be 90% of the way there. >> reporter: u.s. defense secretary leon panetta had a different time line in mind when he spoke to cnn last month. >> the viewpoint of the intelligence community is if they made the decision to go ahead in order to develop the enriched uranium and develop the kind of weaponization that they would have to do, we're probably looking at approximately a year. >> reporter: iran's nuclear program and those associated with it have been targeted before. there was a mysterious explosion last november at an iranian military compound where u.s. defense officials believe volatile fuel for a rocket motor for a large ballistic missile was being mixed. some attacks have been more personal. iranian officials said a top scientist at the uranium enrichment plant was blown up in his car last january, the fourth nuclear scientist to be targeted in two years.

iranian officials were quick to point to the u.s. and israel as the culprits. both denied involvement in the killings. attacks have also come through cyberspace, where computer viruses caused sentcentrifuges spin out of control, rendering them useless. this latest attack has some western nuclear experts concerned that iran may be trying to establish justification for not allowing inspectors back into the country. experts feel that that access that those inspectors are given are really the only verifiable way that western countries can confirm what's going on there. >> a little potential there for subterfuge, perhaps on the part of iran. >> well, there's always potential. that's why that inspection program is so important. >> suzanne, thank you. >> pleasure. turning to what's now a second week of bitter anti-american sentiment sweeping the middle east in the wake of an offensive anti-muslim film

made in the u.s. that recently surfaced online. one of the fiercest hot spots, afghanistan, where hundreds of demonstrators attacked police officers on a road leading to the u.s. embassy in kabul. just days after a brazen taliban attack on a coalition base that left two u.s. marines dead. our brian todd is learning stunning new details about the attack from u.s. and british military sources. and he joins us now. brian? >> we've learn just how long the firefight lasted and other details used by insurgents, including the location where they made their breach. the attack began under cover of darkness, just after 10:00 p.m. local time, according to u.s. and british military officials. some 15 afghan insurgents organized in three teams first got through a fence on the eastern side of camp bagstion, according to a british military source. the attackers were carrying automatic rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers,

suicide vests and were wearing u.s. army uniforms. jeffrey dressler is an analyst who's been to the camp. >> you can buy u.s. army uniforms in afghanistan. what happens is when these supply convoys are going through pakistan and trucks get seized or destroyed, a lot of that cargo is sold. >> reporter: u.s. and british military officials tell cnn british troops from a royal air force protection wing, along with a group of u.s. marines, were the first to respond to the security breach. the firefight lasted 2 1/2 to 3 hours, according to those officials. when it was over, two u.s. marines were dead, along with all but one of the insurgents. the sole survivor was captured. the attackers did millions of dollars in damage before they went down. according to a british military source, once the insurgents breached the fence on the eastern side of that base, they used handhead ieds to destroy air strikes.

three refueling stations were destroyed. six hangars were damaged. british officials say the att k attackers didn't get near the area where british and american troops who share this sprawling base are housed. a british military source says prince harry who's assigned to an apache helicopter unit at camp bastion was about a mile 1/2 away from the firefight when it occurred. and like others who weren't part of a quick reaction force, captain wales, as he's called, went on lockdown immediately. the base is surrounded by barren desert. should they have seen it coming? >> it was in the middle of the night. that said, there are still ways to keep visibility on what's going on. but to be honest with you, i think where this attack reportedly occurred is probably one of the least well-defended portions of the base because there's not a whole lot of personnel around there. >> a british official tells us steps are being take ton shore up security at that base. and an investigation now under way will make specific recommendations on that.

>> if they cut through the fence or blew a hole in it, seems that they wouldn't really need the uniforms. what were the uniforms for? >> they wouldn't needed them to breach that fence. they probably used the uniforms to create confusion among the allied forces who responded to that attack, make them not quite sure whether they were shooting at their own troops or maybe at enemy insurgents. you can imagine the chaos going on if you're trying to respond to an attack and the person you think is your enemy may be your friend. that's why they did it. >> brian todd, thanks. much more common in afghanistan right now than attacks by insurgents dressed as u.s. troops are attacks as those dressed as afghan police. here's anna corn with an exclusive report. >> reporter: it's been a deadly week here in afghanistan with more green-on-blue attacks. afghan soldiers turning on the coalition troops training them. four u.s. soldiers were shot dead after an afghan soldier turned his gun on them.

2w0 british soldiers were also killed in a separate attack. this takes the death toll for insider attacks to 51 so far this year. now, cnn gained an exclusive access with an afghan police officer who claimed to have killed two u.s. soldiers in a green-on-blue attack three years ago. at a small house in a taliban-controlled village is a man who claims to be responsible for a green-on-blue attack. with his face covered to hide his identity, he pulls out his police uniform, something he hasn't worn since the attack on the 2nd of october, 2009. on patrol with u.s. forces in a province in central afghanistan, this father of two says he waited for an opportunity to launch his premeditated attack. the americans went inside the nearby school for a break, he explains. they took off their body armor and put their weapons down. at that moment, i thought it was the right time. so i took my gun and shot them.

two soldiers were killed. 25-year-old sergeant aaron smith and 21-year-old private first class brandon owens. three other soldiers were injured, including captain tyler kirt heshgs. he said he turned his gun because americans were oppressing people in my country, burning copies of the holy koran and disrespecting it. having escaped from the scene, he claims he was later captured by the taliban who thought he was a policeman. when i told them i had attacked americans, they gave me clothes and the taliban welcomed me warmly, like a hero. he says he later moved to iran for three years, returning to afghanistan only recently after being told it was safe. they said americans were not everywhere like they used to be, the taliban had brought security and i should return home. i'm happy to be back in my country.

green-on-blue or insider attacks as they are known within the military have sharply increased this year here in afghanistan. it's an alarming trend has coalition forces extremely worried and every single time there is an attack, the taliban immediately claims responsibility. >> the taliban lie and we know they lie. we think they overstate their influence on these tragic incidents. we think somewhere around 25% of them are insurgent-related to some degree. >> reporter: the majority of attacks, according to the coalition, are related to personal grievances, cultural differences and the psychological fatigue of an 11-year war that's about to enter its 12th year. and while trust has been undermined forcing new measures to be put in place to protect international troops, the afghanis are determined to ensure these insider attacks don't derail this vital partnership. >> we'll continue to work together. we have been working for the last 11 years.

we have built a very good relationship together and this will continue despite any efforts by the taliban to make us separate. that will not happen. >> reporter: but for this 30-year-old afghani, he believes these attacks won't stop. i know they will increase, i know more people will do what i did. that certainly is a chilling statement and a real concern for u.s. and nato forces who are in the process of handing over power to the afghans while trying to prepare for an exit here in 2014. joe? >> anna coren reporting. a prominent columnist labeled mitt romney the foreign policy fumbler in the wake of last week's deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. plus, president obama hits china with a serious trade complaint. republicans allege it's political posturing. ahead, i'll ask the former u.s. ambassador to china and former republican presidential candidate jon huntsman if he agrees. endless shrimp at red lobster. you can mix and match all day!

[ male announcer ] red lobster's endless shrimp is back... but only for a limited time! try as much as you like, any way you like! like parmesan crusted shrimp just $14.99. i'm ryan isabell and i sea food differently. [ male announcer ] introducing a reason to look twice. the entirely new lexus es and the first-ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. the entirely new lexus es and the first-ever es hybrid. imimagaginine e ifif y yod alalwawaysys s seeee l e [m[mususicic]]

inin t thehe b besest t lil. eveverery y titimeme o of f. ououtdtdoooorsrs, , oro. trtranansisititiononss® ls auautotomamatiticacalllly y fift ththe e ririghght t amamouountn. soso y youou s seeee e eveg ththe e waway y itit is memeanant t toto b be e ses. mamaybybe e evevenen a lilittttlele b betette. exexpeperirienencece l lifife e, asask k fofor r trtrananss adadapaptitiveve l lene. to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for ten years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far.

syria's political turmoil on the campaign trail. joining us to talk about that and more, "new york times" columnist nicholas christoph. thank you for coming in. as we look at your article, simply fascinating over the weekend. i wanted to read just a bit of it. the republican party, it says, is caught to a civil war on foreign policy and romney refuses to pick sides. in contrast to his approach on the economy, he just doesn't seem to have much thought about global issues. my hunch is that for secretary of state he would pick a steady hand like robert zoellick, but romney has surrounded himself with volatile neocons. how did republicans get to this point? >> i think the republican party on foreign policy, a number of different things. and in the case of mitt romney,

it's particularly problematic because this is not something he feels at all intuitive about. maybe the best example of that came when he was looking at his iran policy and was trying to declare what his red line is and then lo and behold, he misstated it and had to be corrected by his own campaign. as i said, there have a lot of candidates who probably haven't written their own policy position papers. but he hadn't even seem to have read his. >> a lot of talk now about the romney campaign coming up with new specifics as they move toward election day. on foreign policy, what are the specifics that you think the romney campaign most needs to address, perhaps his middle east policy? >> yeah, i think he needs to discuss more clearly exactly what his policy is, vis-a-vis, iran. basically are we at some risk of going to yet another war in the region? i think he needs to articulate

exactly how his policy is different from obama's on afghanistan. it's something he has been critical of but hasn't explored the differences of. and in iraq, he's been, again, there have been some criticisms of the obama policy. but it's really hard to see exactly where that would play out from here. those would be three critical areas. afghanistan, iraq and iran. >> over the weekend on "state of the union," cnn's candy crowley actually interviewed the prime minister of israel, netanyahu. i wanted to play a clip for you. just listen. >> this is not an electoral issue. it is not based on any electoral consideration. i think that there's a common interest of all americans of all political persuasions to stop iran. this is a regime that is giving vent to the worst impulse that is you see right now in the middle east. >> do you agree with that? do you think this is not an electoral issue and what do you

believe the relationship is between mitt romney and prime minister netanyahu? >> well, when a prime minister of any country goes on sunday talk shows or on any other program like that and appears before the american public and makes his case about where america should place its red lines -- obviously, he's interfering in american politics. obviously that's the aim. the netanyahu government has tried to make the case to the obama administration about putting in red lines. and it failed. it lost that argument. now it's trying to take that to the american people. he clearly has a close relationship with romney, maybe not as close as some people have or portrayed it. but it's close. i think he's probably a little nervous about what happens if obama is reelected. >> perhaps a sticky question on iran. do you think the united states should be taking more of a lead on issues related to iran rather than letting, say, israel take the lead?

>> well, i find it absurd to think that we should follow netanyahu's advice and place an additional red line in front of iran when israel itself hasn't stipulated exactly where its red line would be. obama has set a red line. it's actually iran having a nuclear weapon. netanyahu doesn't like where that red line is. and that's his right. but we do indeed have one. and i'm really nervous about the netanyahu idea that we should place a red line at iran developing a capacity to develop a nuclear weapon, getting close. it's really hard to define that. we've been through that, we've been there. i'm not sure we want to risk going to war again over a country's wmd when we can't measure what that is. >> nick, thanks for coming in to "the situation room." >> my pleasure. as the chicago teachers

strike enters its second week, a judge weighs in on a motion to force the teachers back to work. we'll give you some details. becoming a fulltime indoor cat wasn't easy for atti. but he had purina cat chow indoor. he absolutely loved it. and i knew he was getting everything he needed to stay healthy indoors. and after a couple of weeks, i knew we were finally home! [ female announcer ] purina cat chow indoor. and for a delicious way to help maintain a healthy weight, try new purina cat chow healthy weight. scroll... tap... pinch... and zoom... in your car. introducing the all-new cadillac xts with cue. ♪ don't worry. we haven't forgotten, you still like things to push. [ engine revs ] the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward.

one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now.

a search is under way off florida after a 21-year-old woman from tennessee disappeared from a cruise ship. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and some of the other stories in "the situation room" right now. what do you have? >> according to a statement from royal caribbean cruise line, a passenger witnessed the woman falling overboard last night. the coast guard says the ship was about 45 miles east of ft. lauderdale at the time. helicopters, airplanes and a coast guard cutter are now involved in that search. and an illinois judge is refusing to immediately consider a motion which would have forced chicago teachers to call off

their strike while union delegates hammer out a deal with the city school board. the strike entered its second week today. teachers union delegates are expected to meet tomorrow to discuss a tentative deal with the school board reached last week. tensions are rising between china and japan over a string of disputed islands. angry protesters ransacked japanese businesses. the islands sit in popular fishing waters in the east china sea and are believed to be rich in oil resources. both countries say their claim on the islands go back more than 100 years. and civil war buffs and historians are marking a grim anniversary today. it marks the 150 years since the civil war battle, known as the bloodiest day in american history. almost 23,000 union and confederate troops were killed or wounded. historians generally consider this battle to be a draw. we were just talking about a few minutes ago. are you a civil war history buff? >> i had a junior high school

teacher who made me study every single battle of the civil war. this one, also known as sharpsburg. >> and we were saying this is not very far from washington. i think you've been there. i've been there before, too. >> probably more than once. a big memorial. >> yeah, it's a really neat place to go back and relive history there. >> and you ran there. >> i ran a 50-mile race a while ago. >> 50 miles is extreme. >> it goes right through there, which is fascinating. anyone who's done the jfk 50 will know. they've been through there as well. china's trade practices take center stage in the presidential campaign as the candidates accuse each other of not doing enough to protect american jobs. i'll ask former ambassador to china jon huntsman to grade each of the candidates on the issue. does your phone give you all day battery life ? droid does. and does it launch apps by voice while learning your voice ?

launch cab4me. droid does. keep left at the fork. does it do turn-by-turn navigation ? droid does. with verizon, america's largest 4g lte network, and motorola, droid does. get $100 off select motorola 4g lte smartphones like the droid razr. in communities across the country. whether it's supporting a delaware nonprofit that's providing training and employment opportunities, investing in the revitalization of a neighborhood in the bronx, or providing the financing to help a beloved san diego bakery expand, what's important to communities across the country is important to us. and we're proud to work

with all of those who are creating a stronger future for everyone. i've been fortunate to win on golf's biggest stages. but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit, even the smallest things became difficult. i finally understood what serious joint pain is like. i talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. because enbrel, etanercept, suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. [ phil ] get back to the things that matter most. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you.

[ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biolog medicine prescribed by rheumatologists.

the obama administration is filing a complaint accusing china of unfair trade practices in the auto industry. the white house says the move will help protect american jobs. cnn white house correspondent brianna keilar has more on the issue. >> reporter: president obama announced he is taking aim at china for allegedly subsidizing its auto exports illegally, giving chinese automakers a leg-up on american ones. >> these are subsidies that directly harm working men and women on the assembly lines in

ohio and michigan and across the midwest. >> reporter: obama's announcement that he is filing a complaint against china with the world trade organization was the main headline of his campaign stops in ohio where one in eight jobs is tied to the auto industry. the president is trying to inoculate himself against criticism from mitt romney who says i'll take a harder line on china. >> i also want you to understand that when nations cheat, when they don't follow the rules of fair trade, we're going to call them on the carpet. i will call china a currency manipulator and stop them in their tracks from killing american jobs. >> reporter: the romney campaign calls president obama's announcement too little too late. but the president slammed romney because his former company, bain capital, invested in company that is outsourced jobs overseas. >> his experience has been owning companies that were called pioneers in the business of outsourcing jobs to countries like china. >> reporter: the obama

administration has hit china on trade several times, especially in recent months. in july, also in ohio, president obama announced he was filing another complaint with the w.t.o. because china was slapping tariffs on imported american cars. in may, he ordered tariffs on chinese solar panels. in march, he took legal steps against china for hoarding metals. the president's actions and mitt romney's promises to do more have become fixtures in presidential campaigns as candidates appeal to voters. >> it's easy to pick this as an issue that's complicated, that people don't fully understand. but you always look tough when you talk tough about dealing with a country like china. >> reporter: china is a boogeyman, has not long been used in presidential election, especially by the non-incumbent candidate. but the thing is, joe, they tend to take a hard line but if

elected, the candidate's line tends to soften when the reality of governing sets in. >> brianna keilar, thanks for that. joining us now is governor jon huntsman. thanks for coming in, governor. good to see you. >> honored to be with you, joe. >> the president is doing his pushback on china. what do you make of that? >> let's face it. some politics is going to creep into the u.s./china relationship at this point in the election cycle. it is an easy target. it's large and complex and there is a fear factor associated with the rise of china. what i think we're missing out on is a broader discussion about what you do about it because the middle east is a big story, the economy's a big story. i'm here to tell you, china's going to be a bigger story in the sweep of history. >> be the teacher for me. give these two candidates, president obama and governor romney a grade. what grade would you give them on their china policy right now? >> i would say for obama, it is incomplete because we haven't had the conversation we need.

and for governor romney, similarly, it would be incomplete because the u.s./china relationship increasingly requires the ability to walk with the american people through what our interests are economically and militarily and how we're going to protect those interests and achieve a better future going forward. >> but how realistic is it for the president of the united states to make a move like this on china in the long run? >> you're talking about the trade complaint that -- >> uh-huh. >> there are going to be trade complaints all the way along the relationship, simply because we now have the second largest trading relationship in the world. people fail to understand that part. soon it will take over from canada as the largest bilateral trading relationship the world has seen. >> but a good move? >> i'm sure a w.t.o. case was based on merit. they have to be or they're going to be tossed out. you could have endless w.t.o. complaints lined up. the question isn't just how many complaints you have? it's longer term, what are you doing to solve them and what are

we doing to come together on the trading front and helping to encourage entrepreneurs in china who are going to be the next generation of change agents. >> grading the president, being his ambassador to china, you said in 2009, i have seen our president today who went in both the small meeting and the expanded bilateral, was extremely forceful and comprehensive in hitting on every one of the major issues that we try to manage in our bilateral relationship. there wasn't a single issue that was left out. you say, as one observer and someone who takes this relationship seriously as the on-site manager, i was very proud of our president. are you still proud? >> i was talking specifically about his very first trip to china. he'd never been before. i thought in his meetings, he handled himself well and he mastered the subject matter that was covered from human rights right on through to iran and north korea. the question becomes not just a one-off meeting, which you can handle well if you kind of are briefed up.

but longer term, how do we handle the next 20-year horizon of the relationship? what about a military-to-military relationship that is fractured? an investment relationship, a trading relationship that has gone off the rails because china's so concerned about the diminution of the international marketplace in europe and certainly in the united states? they're insecure at this point. and it's a perfect time for us to step up and say we want to forge a new relationship with china on the operation side. >> the romney has a new ad today. i want you to listen to it. >> my plan is to help the middle class. trade has to work for america. that means crack down on cheaters like china. it means open up new markets. >> you know this subject very well. how much daylight would you say exists between the president and mitt romney on the issue of trade and china? >> well, i would say that both candidates are trying to achieve a spot with the american public

where they're seen as strong and forceful and protective of america's interests. that's a given. you can trace it all the way back to when ronald reagan ran in 1980 and the words he used, and then bill clinton in '92. and even barack obama in 2008 when he criticized george bush for going to the olympics. it just happens. then once you take office, a new reality sets in. and that is, i've got to manage this large complicated relationship and i have to make it work because the world is watching and they depend on our ability to manage economics and to manage the security aspect of the relationship in ways that provide an overlay of confidence. that's what has made the asia-pacific region prosper. and that's our future. >> there's a lot of talk today about mitt romney changing his campaign, perhaps becoming more specific. what would you tell him to change his campaign, if you had the opportunity? >> you're looking at a failed candidate. so --

>> still, you have ideas. >> to give anybody any kind of advice -- he is perfectly situated to focus in laser-like on jobs and economic expansion. >> does he need to get more specific? >> well, specifics are good. but it's the believability stuff and the consistency that i think he can bring to this dialogue in the weeks remaining. and he can do just fine. he has the background. he's got the credibility. he has the real experience in the business world. and that's what i think the nation is waiting for is a crystal-clear conversation on how we refire the engines of growth. it isn't happening on the democratic side. president obama is not talking about growth and expanding the marketplace. it's a perfect opening for mitt romney to step in and capture that. >> what's your relationship with mitt romney? would you serve in a mitt romney administration if asked? >> of course. >> as secretary of state? would you like to see that? >> there's no way that i would be asked. i would not expect that. >> why wouldn't you be asked? good relationship with him?

>> well, it's not neither here nor there. and i always believe in serving when asked. if you can actually add something to that particular job. but, listen, every candidate is able to find their own supporters and their own experts to surround themselves with. that's the way it should be. and in my case, i bring minimal value. so he's covered. >> last question, watching this, do you think this is a well-run campaign so far? >> well, the proof will be in november. a lot of times you see wheels coming off a bus only to see the candidates surge toward the very end and they all look like generiuses when all is said and done. >> governor huntsman, a pleasure to see you. the emotional battle over voting rights gripping states across the country. what will it mean on election day just 50 days from now?

(train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. president obama: i'm barack obamthis message.ve... anncr: he keeps saying it... mitt romney: this president cannot tell us that you're... better off today than when he took office. anncr: well... here's where we were in 2008... tv anncr: the worst financial collapse... since the great depression... tv anncr: american workers were laid off in numbers not seen... in over three decades. anncr: and here's where we are today... thirty months of private sector job growth. creating 4.6 million new jobs. we're not there yet. but the real question is: whose plan is better for you? the president's plan asks millionaires... to pay a little more... to help invest in a strong middle class. clean energy. and cut the deficit. mitt romney's plan? a new 250,000 dollar tax break for...

multi-millionaires. roll back regulations on the banks that cratered the economy. and raise taxes on the middle class. president clinton: they want to go back to the same old... policies that got us in trouble in the first place. president obama: we're not going back, we are moving forward. anncr: forward. the good they did inspires us, prepares us and guides us. at new york life, everything we do is to help you keep good going.

with just 50 days to go before election day, voting rights groups in the key battleground state of florida are scrambling to get people registered just weeks after a federal judge rejected strict limits on voter registration drives which would have severely limited the number of people signing up. it's also one of the latest hurdles in a heated battle over voting rights gripping much of the country. more than a dozen states have passed new voting rights laws which republicans say will help prevent voter fraud. but democrats argue these laws will disenfranchise thousands of voter, many of them minorities. joining us now, jeffrey toobin. he is the author of the new book out tomorrow "the oath, the obama white house and the supreme court." so, jeffrey, when you look at

this, it's sort of a mishmash, if you will, across the country as these cases hit the courts. a lot of judges are making changes to these laws, some of them are throwing these laws out. nonetheless, there's a real concern that just because judges change or dismiss things, it doesn't mean people are getting that message and a fear even that people won't go to the polls because of confusion about some of these cases. do you think the effect of some of these laws is still going to remain even though the judges say they're not in effect? >> well, this has really been one of the great lesser-told stories of the 2012 campaign, which is the legal trench warfare over all these laws that were passed when the republicans did so well in the 2010 elections. just to state the obvious, if you look at that map that you just put up of the states that changed their laws, virtually every swing state is up there. so these aren't just sort of

random states. you have florida, you have ohio, you have pennsylvania, you have wisconsin, you have michigan. all these states have had controversy. now, what has been surprising, certainly to me, is how successful the obama administration, the justice department, the obama campaign, more liberal public interest groups have been successful in challenging these laws. and many of them have been scaled back or repealed. but the question you raise is did they succeed in intimidating people out of voting? i don't know how to measure that. there's probably some degree of intimidation. but you can be sure that the democratic party, which is most upset about these laws, is fighting hard to get people registered, especially in florida over the next couple of weeks. >> and the other thing i think you and i have talked many times about this already is the question of voter fraud. is there any evidence in your mind yet that voter fraud is a real big problem across the country, basically the thing that republicans say caused

these laws in the first place? >> so far, based on the evidence i've seen, voter fraud is the cure for which there is no disease. these laws purport to stop voter fraud. but when you look at the number of cases of actual voter impersonation, people going to the polls trying to fake their way into voting, noncitizens voting, the number is tiny. it's infinitesimal. john stevens has said voter ids, picture ids may be required by states. so the states are sometimes acting within their rights. but is there actual voter fraud? there doesn't seem to be much evidence that this is a serious problem at all. >> the other thing is about the voting rights act itself. without boring the people who are watching with too many details, there's something called section 5 in there that

applies to certain states. and there's a lot of talk here in washington, d.c., i'm sure you've heard it, that the supreme court actually might throw out section 5 of the voting rights act, which could have a big impact. could you talk a bit about that? >> right, section 5 of the voting rights act, 1965, basically said there are certain states, almost all in the south, that have such a history of discriminating against minorities that they have to go through what's called preclearance. any changes they make in their electoral system, the justice department has to approve. the states don't have the autonomy to do it on their own. these states have challenged section 5 and have said, look, what may have been justified in 1965 is no longer justified, that history is over. we deserve to be treated like every other state. the supreme court is almost certainly going to take that up this year. and what we've seen in florida, which is largely covered by the voting rights act, is that the justice department has still said they're discriminating

against minorities and that's, again, one of the big issues, both in this campaign but will certainly be before the supreme court next year about whether the voting rights act can still be applied against these states. >> there is really a problem in applying it, isn't there? it's not easy to do because you end up with some counties with some rules and other counties with different rules. >> that's right. and you're also getting to the issue of intent. intent is always hard to prove in legal settings, whether it's in criminal cases or civil cases. why is florida changing its law? is it changing its law because they're making a good-faith attempt to stop voter fraud or are they simply trying to disenfranchise people who tend to vote democratic? that issue is critical in voting rights cases. and it's not easy to resolve. >> that's for sure. thanks so much for that, jeffrey toobin. i'm working on a documentary on that. it should be coming around the middle of october. stay tuned for that.

just as northern thailand was cleaning up from a flood, a new wave of water. look...is only the beginning.t ♪ ♪ introducing a stunning work of technology. ♪ introducing the entirely new lexus es. and the first ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts, more events, more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card.

[ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ] [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. see life in the best light. [music] transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses.

there's new investigation of a pennsylvania court on when former penn state coach jerry sandusky will be sentenced. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and other stories right now. lisa, what do you have? >> hi there, joe. former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky will be sentenced as soon as october 9th. documents now posted on the court website say the sentence will be handed down immediately following a hearing on that date to determine whether he's a sexually violent predator. he was convicted in june of abuses young boys over 15 years.

and these pictures are from northern thigh land. the area was hit by major flooding last week. now there's a second deluge caused by a failed flood walls and efforts to pump water in to an already swollen river. about 1,000 households have been flooded. and the ceremony in washington today to mark constitution day. the 225th anniversary of the signing of the u.s. constitution in philadelphia. according to law passed in 2004, schools across the country are required to teach students about the constitution today. so you can see it's historic document. we were talking about it at the archi archives. significant day for the history buffs there. >> have you gone over there? >> i have. i have actually really enjoyed, you can see the tourists and people of not just here in the washington area, the united states, but also from around the world who come to take a look at it. >> lisa, thanks so much.

>> all right. a new bundle of joy and diplomacy. a first look at the national zoo's first panda cub in years. you've been busy for a dead man. after you jumped ship in bangkok, i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. i'll always have it. so this is it? we'll see where the waves take me. sayonara, brah!

syou know, i've helped a lot off people save a lot of money. but today...( sfx: loud noise of large metal object hitting the ground) things have been a little strange. (sfx: sound of piano smashing) roadrunner: meep meep. meep meep? (sfx: loud thud sound) what a strange place. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

without freshly-made pasta. you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffer's. starts with ground beef, unions, and peppers baked in a ketchup glaze with savory gravy and mashed russet potatoes.

what makes stouffer's meatloaf best of all? that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. let's fix dinner. very special delivery has arrived right here in washington. the national zoo celebrating the birth of its first panda cub in seven years. all eyes are fixed on the streaming panda cam for a glimpse of a little animal that may do a little for u.s.-china diplomacy. sandra? >> reporter: joe, the second cub to be born to the pair of giant pandas here at the national zoo and for these endangered animals, conception wasn't easy.

at washington's national zoo. >> i heard it and then i was like, wait, i need to hear that. >> reporter: the panda keeper laurie thompson one of the first to confirm the birth. >> it is a most exciting experience as a panda keeper, definitely. just to get to see this from start to finish. >> reporter: after seven years and five false pregnancies, the mother only had a 10% chance of conception. she was artificially inseminated in april and last month doctors believed she was pregnant again. they started monitoring her around the clock with this panda cam and late sunday night the zoo's panda team confirmed the newborn. while doctors haven't examined the pink hairless 4-ounce cub yet, you can see the mother a thousand times the size rolling over it to take care of it nesting and not sleeping or

eating. they're taking every precaution to give her time to bond with the cub, closing down the exhibit to make sure she has peace and quiet. >> we're very concerned about survival. not really sure what the odds are but this baby sounds healthy and she is acting perfectly so fingers crossed 100% survival. fingers crossed. >> reporter: the pair is on loan for more than $10 million to china. with its unique markings and fuzzy coat, they're a big draw. >> he's a big panda fan and that's the first thing we need to do getting the zoo. >> reporter: the stuffed panda bears are a top seller and exhibits at all four zoos here in the united states that study these endangered bears are extremely popular. but here in d.c. it will be a while before people can get a glimpse of the new cub. >> we got here and the exhibit's closed so we can't see them.

it's a little disappointing but excited to have a new cub. >> never easy for panda to conceive and it's a big deal. you know? have another baby panda join a big family so we're thrilled. >> i love pandas! and they're so cute. panda, panda, panda, panda. >> reporter: a couple's first cub born back in 2005 was named tyshan after a public naming process and zoo keepers don't know the gender of this cub yet but will have another naming contest in 100 days. joe? >> sandra endo at national zoo, thanks for that. happening now, a new strategy for mitt romney and a new headache as secret audio tapes of the candidate emerge. also, another clandestine attack on a nuclear facility in iran. and cnn talks to prince william as the royal scandal over topless photos goes to court. wonderful blitzer is off today. i'm joe johns. you are in "the situation room."

new recording, new recordings are emerging of potentially damaging remarks by mitt romney including one in which he calls obama voters, quote, dependent on government. the remarks are being revealed as a republican presidential nominee tries to reboot his campaign. cnn national political correspondent jim acosta is on the trail with romney in los angeles. jim, where did these tapes come from? >> reporter: joe, these tapes originally reported by the liberal magazine mother jones and in one of the videos as you mentioned he is heard describing president obama's supporters as being dependent on the government. in another video he talks about what his political prospects would be like if he's hispanic. as you said, the new videos come as a distraction for his campaign just as it's trying to rework its economic message. ♪ mmp is rebooting his message,

returning to the issue that's driven his campaign from the beginning. the economy. >> it's time for a president who's committed to cutting spending and balancing the budget and i know how to do that. i've tunnel it before. we balanced our budget in my business and at the olympics. and every year i was in my state. >> reporter: in a speech to the u.s. hispanic chamber of commerce romney offered remedies for the deficit with departments and agencies of the federal government combined, the retooled approach backed up with plain language in new ads. >> you got to cut the deficit. >> reporter: romney also returned to his line of attack on china, slamming president obama's announcement of a trade complaint against the communist country. >> if i known all it took to get action is running an ad citing the inaction on the cheating i'd run it long ago. >> reporter: they're showing the video of romney at a fund-raiser

talking about a trip to china to buy a factory in the days of bain capital. >> and around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and guard towers and we said, gosh, i can't bloef that you keep these girls in. and they said, no, no. this is to keep other people from coming in because people want so badly to come and work in this factory. >> a source familiar with bain's investment history said they didn't buy the factory referred to in the video. that video and other clips lead to the liberal magazine mother jones appear to show romney shooting from the hip on topics like his father's birth in mexico. >> if he was born to mexicans i would have a better shot at winning this. i say that jokingly but it would be helpful to be latino. >> reporter: in another youtube video, romney can be heard going off on obama supporters. >> there are 47% who are with

him dependent on the government, who believe that they're victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. >> reporter: president obama had his own off script moment in 2008 caught on tape at a fund-raiser saying people in rural america cling to their guns and religion. it's a favorite paul ryan attack line repeated just today. >> and i remember that one time where he was talking to donors in san francisco and he said, people like us, people from the midwest, they like to cling to their guns and their religion. i got to tell you. this catholic deer hunter is guilty as charged and proud to say so. >> reporter: now, cnn has not been able to independently authenticate the recordings but a romney campaign adviser does tell cnn that the campaign does plan on releasing a statement on the recordings sometime this evening. we have not received that statement. we have been asking for it for several hours now and we can report that the romney campaign has also announced it's now

going to allow video cameras in some fund-raisers, something it was not doing before, joe. >> jim acosta in los angeles, thanks for that report. it's back to ohio for president obama. the campaign in a battleground state is increasingly focusing on car talks. cnn white house correspondent dan lothian is traveling with mr. obama. dan, when's the president saying? >> reporter: well, both here in columbus and also cincinnati the president talking about manufacturing jobs, obviously the auto industry which is critical in a state like ohio but also talking about trade and china. the president telling supporters that he's been tougher on china than the previous administration and coming time to vote the choice is clear. ohio may well be the mother of all battleground states. president obama has visited here a dozen times so far this year. this is where his auto bailout message goes in to overdrive. car companies rescued. thousands of jobs saved.

ohio's economy recovering. >> when other folks said we should let detroit go bankrupt, walk away from an industry that supports one in eight jobs in ohio, i said, we are not going to go that way. i bet on american workers and three years later the american auto industry is roaring back. >> reporter: at this stop in cincinnati, the president used a conveniently timed billion-dollar auto trade complaint against china to hit the gop opponent suggesting he's not standing up for the american worker. >> he's been running around ohio claiming he's going to roll up the sleeves and take the fight to china. you can't stand up to china when all you've done is sent them our jobs. >> reporter: governor romney who trails by seven points in ohio dismissed the swipe by taking his own shot at the president. saying in a statement, quote, campaign season trade cases may sound good on the stump, but it's too little, too late for

american businesses and middle-class families. the gop nominee also flexed his muscles in a new ad vowing to confront china for unfair trade practices. >> trade has to work for america. that means crack down on cheaters like china. >> reporter: this debate plays well in a state where one out of every eight jobs is tied to the auto industry. while the president plays up the bailout on the stump, ohio's republican governor down played its impact at his party's convention in tampa. >> we balanced our budget, that $8 billion deficit eliminated without a tax increase in the state of ohio. we sat down and set priorities. we eliminated those programs that we no longer needed. >> reporter: now, the white house in the campaign today was also hit with some tough questions about the timing of the china announcement happening while the president was campaigning here in the state of ohio that it could appear to be political but aides pushing back saying this is something in the works for months and it's more a

function of mr. obama running the election campaign and being president. joe? >> dan lothian, thanks for that. iran is blaming israel and the u.s. for what it says was an attempt to sabotage an underground nuclear facility. it says explosives cut power lines, a move to damage centrifuges used to enrich urani uranium. let's get more from fran townsend, former homeland security adviser to president bush. fran, what do you make of this? fascinating story. >> this is a fascinating story, joe. take the viewers a step back. over the last several years you have seen a series of inexplicable events. three cyber attacks, starts with doku, a mapping of the nuclear infrastructure. there's stunex and public

reporting and researchers say so sophisticated they must have been state sponsored and same time a military installation related to the nuclear program. an explosion. we don't understand why. there have been a number of nuclear scientists of iran's program targeted and murdered inside of iran. if you step back and look at the things and add to this, the explosion of power lines, one has to request whether or not there's not some state-sponsored organized effort. nobody here in washington is obviously talking. washington and tel aviv deny it and perfectly consistent if one wanted to avoid an overconfrontation and looking to undermine the program to avoid it. it would certainly make sense if some or all of this wasn't related to a covert action. >> so, you're suspecting this happened and not subterfuge by iran? >> that's right, joe. that's always a possibility, right? we have seen them sort of create the fantastic and untrue

stories. we understand that they're looking to avoid iaea inspections and to stage it as propaganda and avoid additional inspections would be a credible expla explags. >> iranian state media said the iaea, the international atomic energy agency in danger of being infiltrated by, their quote, terrorists and saboteurs. >> doesn't make sense. let's be clear. the iaea is an inspection body. it is not an operational or intelligence organization. what they do, they wouldn't permit themselves to be used for such of clandestine activity because it would undermine their credibility so that's a fantastic fabrication. i don't buy that at all. >> united states and israel, of course, know nothing? >> exactly. nobody's talking about this one. understandably. >> totally a spy movie.

>> it is. it's a spy movie in the making. >> this facility would have been very well fortified by now. >> that's exactly rightme. it makes sense. power lines of a requirement makes perfectly good sense if you were a spy. >> how do you do that? >> well -- >> we'll see. >> to be continued. >> thanks so much. fran townsend. a u.s. consulate attacked. four americans killed, including an ambassador. live to libya for the latest on the investigation. a health update on the world's richest man. warren buffett talks about his fight against cancer. [ male announcer ] whether it's kevin's smartphone...

mom's smartphone... dad's tablet... or lauren's smartphone... at&t has a plan built to help make families' lives easier. introducing at&t mobile share. one plan lets you share data on up to 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. add a tablet for only $10 per month. the more data you share, the more you save. at&t. the more data you share, the more you save. i i had pain in my abdomen...g. it just wouldn't go away. i was spotting, but i had already gone through menopause. these symptoms may be nothing... but they could be early warning signs of a gynecologic cancer, such as cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancer. feeling bloated for no reason. that's what i remember. seeing my doctor probably saved my life.

warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. when we got married. i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule. wthe future of our medicare andr electiosocial security. for... man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security. and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that...

affect seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org my name is adam frucci and i'm the i love new technology,om. so when i heard that american express and twitter were teaming up, i was pretty interested. turns out you just sync your american express card securely to your twitter account, tweet specific hashtags, and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the things you want. to me, that's the membership effect. nice boots! new week brought another wave of anti-u.s. protests in muslim countries while sparked by the crude mocking the prophet muhammad, they're taking on a broader agenda and in lebanon thousands marched through the streets chanting death to

america and down with zionism. the film was called a dangerous turn in the war against muslim. in pakistan, at least one person was killed when anti-american protesters clashed with the police. indonesian police fired teargas and used water cannons to disspers protesters outside the u.s. embassy in jakarta. the most shocking protest last week in ben da zi, libya, where the u.s. ambassador and three other americans were killed. cnn senior international correspondent arwa damon is there for us. what is the latest you are hearing in to the investigation of the attack on the u.s. consulate? >> reporter: you know, joe, we still have these contradictory narratives of what took place from the libyan government itself. the head of the general national congress effectively the country's president saying they detained 50 individuals, amongst them foreigners, members of or

sympathizers with al qaeda and say that this was some sort of preplanned attack but other senior officials within the government itself saying, no, they were brought in for questioning that they have no evidence that it was preplanned, whatsoever. one young man said he arrived at the scene of the attack shortly after the gun fire subsided and that he saw groups of members of a known extremist militia here describing men with beards with rocket prospelled grenades, russi russian-made machine guns and other weapons and he was briefly detained by the group and he says he overheard them talking about the attacks, celebrating it, but also, talking about the need to carry out and to be ready to carry out a second attack against a second location. if you will, remember there was a second attack against the safehouse that happened a few

hours after the initial assault on the consulate that very same night. the government vowing it's going to bring those that carried this out to justice but at the same time admitting it doesn't have the capabilities to rein in the various militias and distressing and disturbing that the lebanon government is unable to stick to a story almost a week after the attack took place. >> you spoke to a witness that saw the extremists there. what were they telling you? >> reporter: well, they were talking about how these were known members of a militia group and how they were celebrating the attack and also he was saying that this is not the first time that this particular group or groups have carried out such attacks and if you remember in the past the same location was attacked. the head of the u.n. mission,

the headquarters attacked in benghazi. some military officials telling us they warned the u.s. about the growing threat of extremism as it does exist, especially in the eastern part of the country. as recently as three days before the attack took place. many of the ground right now questioning whether or not the u.s. grossly underestimated the threat level against it, all the while many also saying that it was the libyan government's possibility to a certain degree to have created more security around the compound itself. and so, many are saying that the blame lies with both sides. but at the end of the day this most certainly is not the path that those that launched the regime wanted to' the country move down. >> what are you seeing now? any protests? seeing any demonstrations? >> reporter: there was. we are hearing a candle lit vigil in front of the consulate itself carried out by children,

women. libyans want the world to know that this act of violence against the u.s. is by no way, shape or form representative of the libyan mind-set as a whole. they're shocked and appalled of what took place and there's video that emerged on youtube and we spoke to the young man who shot it. it's video showing the ambassador's body being evacuated, thrown out the windows at the compound. the group of people moving the body did not realize it was the ambassador but realized a foreigner and thought it was an american and initially they thought he was still alive. and then you hear this euphoric cheer of god is great once they realized that they have managed to save what they believe to be a survivor. but of course, by the time they get the ambassador to the hospital, the doctor there says it was too late. >> arwa damon in benghazi, thank

you so much for that report. new details of the mystery man's whose video sparked the protest. hearing from people who worked with him, next. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol

as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios wanted to provide better employee benefits while balancing the company's bottom line, their very first word was... [ to the tune of "lullaby and good night" ] ♪ af-lac

♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. [ yawning sound ]

lisa sylvester is here with more of the day's top stories. lisa? >> hi there, joe. a chicago judge refusing to order teacher bask to class. the district was seeking an injunction to end the strike that canceled class for 350,000 students. ted rowlands is in chicago for us. give the latest on the strike. >> reporter: lisa, thousands of parents thought it would be over and kids back in school today but teachers say they need more time to look at the contract proposal that's on the table.

instead of voting on the tentative deal teachers decided to wait. >> contract was presented and indecision. >> reporter: the delay triggered an immediate and aggressive response of chicago mayor rahm emanuel seeking an injunction to force teachers back to work. in a statement emanuel said i will not stand by while the children of chicago are played as pawns in an internal dispute within a union. the mayor and the school district want teachers back in the classroom while the union figures out if they want the contract. >> the fact they can't be in classrooms is disappointing to me because that's where they need to be. we're losing ground every day they're not there. >> please go back to work. put our kids in school. >> reporter: the group of parents among tens of thousands in the second week of trying to figure out what to do with their kids each day say they, too, want teachers to read the proposal and go back to work while details are hammered out. and lisa, today is the day that

teachers are looking at that proposal. they'll vote tomorrow at 3:00 local time whether to extend the strike or to stop it. and a lot of folks with kids out of school are crossing their fingers they'll halt this strike. one clarification, lisa, a judge did look at the injunction request. he hasn't thrown it out but delayed a hearing until wednesday. he's going to wait until the teachers vote first and then on wednesday if they vote to continue the strike, they'll have a hearing on a possible injunction. >> good clarification on that. i know a lot of parents and students like to see it resolved quickly. in new york, a noisy celebration marking the one-year anniversary of occupy wall street. more than 120 arrests were made. the movement has dubbed today s-17 for september 17th, that is the day last year when protesters started a two-month occupation of manhattan's park inspiring sit-ins across the country protesting wealth disparity. and billionaire warren

buffett says he's finished the treatment for prostate cancer and told a group of newspaper executives he completed the 44th and final day of radiation therapy. the 82-year-old investor announced in april that he had been diagnosed with stage i prostate cancer adding that the case was, quote, not remotely life threatening. and look for two new faces on the "american idol" judge's panel come january. all right. here we go. nicki minaj and keith urban will join mariah carey and randy jackson for season 12 of the hit show expanding the panel of three to four judges. you may recall steven tyler and jennifer lopez left at the end of last season. the thing that caught me, joe, i can't believe that "american idol" is on for 12 years. >> that's insane. >> randy jackson. one of the originals. 12 years now. >> the judges keep getting more interesting. always find somebody else to keep your eyes open. >> they want to spice it up and

keep the viewers coming back for more. >> nicki will do it. >> mariah carey, too. interesting panel and keith urban, as well. >> thank you, lisa. reports of in-fighting within team romney. the chairman of the republican party reacts, next. you've been busy for a dead man. after you jumped ship in bangkok, i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. i'll always have it. so this is it? we'll see where the waves take me. sayonara, brah!

perform, compete and grow. and people are driving this change. that's the power of human resources. the society... for human resource management and its members know... how to harness that power, because we help develop it. from the next economy, to the next generation, we help get... the most out of business, by getting the best out of people. shrm. leading people, leading organizations.

i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you.

call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now. happening now, a change of strategy amid reports of tension inside the romney campaign. new information about the mystery man whose anti-muslim film sparking deadly riots.

and prince william outraged at topless photos of his wife. he talks to cnn. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm joe johns. you're in "the situation room." a disparaging assessment of supporters of the president obama. listen to this, romney at a closed-door fund-raiser. cnn cannot independently verify the authenticity or the source of these recordings. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. all right? there are 47% who are with him who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them. >> let's talk about that with the republican party chairman. do you agree with that statement? there's a lot of in here.

47% who are dependent upon government. >> well, i don't have the numbers in front of me, joe. but by the way, thanks for having me on. i think it's very clear that one of the key issues for americans to decide is what kind of america you want to have. i mean, and this is not a new theme. this is nothing new that we have -- that anyone has said. do you want the obama cradle to grave live of julia, they're touting it themselves. type government. or do you want to have an opportunity society where you can take a shot at the american dream, where people get government, where we can get to a place where government gets out of the way to unleash the power of business? thises a choice election so when we talk about, hey, there's a which i say of two futures that every american has to assess and make a decision on, i mean, a lot of it has to do with that huge monostrasty of government

and i think we are entering in to a dependency society in this country if we don't break that up, i think it's very hard for us to compete in the world. >> is this a message the republican party has sort of been putting out privately or do you think it's a more a case of the candidate being a bit off message? >> no. i don't think the candidate's off message at all. i think it's very true that in america today and many county that is are watching this right now the biggest employer 20 years ago in many of the places is big private business or manufacturing plant and now the biggest employer in many places around america is just the government. it's either the school board or the municipality. we have people that are -- we have an explosion in benefits and in subsidies from the government around the country. the problem we have, joe, and this is a deeper conversation which is good is that we can't

collect enough money in this government in this world to pay for the size of government that we have created in washington, d.c. what i mean by that is, you know, there isn't enough money out there to pay for the monstracity and we have a country where my little son, we'll spend about 45 cents on every dollar made in america just to run the federal government. the point of all of this is is that the size of government is too big and if we don't do something about it we're going to lose the idea of america. >> but i want to go back to this line. 47% who are with obama who are dependent on government who believe they're victims. that's saying that the 47% of people who certainly are going to vote for the president are

dependent on the government to take care of them? are you sure that you don't think this is a misstatement by mr. romney? >> listen. joe, i don't have the numbers in front of me but clearly what we do have, very clearly, is a government and a society here in this country that is becoming dependent. this is something advertised by barack obama himself on his own website when they came out with this life of julia push over the summer. >> so what percentage -- >> at the age of 3 -- >> what percentage -- excuse me. >> joe i don't have -- listen. i don't have the percentages in front of me. if you want to play the cat and mouse game i won't play it. our government is completely out of control, my friend. i don't think that's a secret. i don't think it's anything that anyone has been hiding. and i think it's something that's going to be on the ballot in november. it is a choice election between what type of country you want to

have and i can guarantee you that the american dream was not built upon the life of julia society advertised by barack obama. >> can we play the other audio owe clip? just real quick. >> my job is not to worry about those people. i'll never convince them. they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. what i have to do is convince the 5% to 10% in the center that are independents, that are thoughtful. >> so, the strategy then is to focus on the 10% who are thoughtful. agree with that? >> i don't think it's any secret that both sides are focusing in very heavily on independents and people in the middle and haven't made their mind up but paying attention to the issues, paying attention to the advertising, the messaging, paying attention to conversations like this. and i think that's pretty par for the course. >> all right.

so, moving on now, you know there's been a lot of news today and a lot of talk about the romney campaign switching or at least tweaking their strategy. >> boy, joe, you have all kinds of fun topics today, buddy. >> it's just the news, you know. >> right. >> my question for you is, what kind of tweaks or changes do you think the romney campaign ought to make? >> well, i think that you saw two ads come out today that i think are fresh and they're very spre specific and i think it will resonate with people across america. what we're going to do and mitt talking to the camera and that and the above and are things to see more of coming out of mitt romney. i think it's a good thing. i think it's part of the strategy. and i think that they're just moving forward with the next step in the campaign moving in to the last 50 days. >> i did want to just go back to last week and we all followed

very closely the situation at the embassies in egypt and libya. you put out a tweet and we never got a chance to ask you about it so i thought i would and show it on the screen here. it says obama sympathizes with attackers in egypt. sad and pathetic and then this, of course, before we knew that ambassador stevens had been killed in libya and the white house explained it had nothing to do with the statement you were referencing there. anything you want to say about that? do you regret that tweet? do you feel like it was okay and in bounds? >> why would i regret it? i don't egret it at all. the fact of the matter is the white house themselves walked away from the statement made by the embassy in egypt. the white house repudiating the statement that we were repudiating. the question is why is the white house having to walk away from a statement made by its own embassy? i mean, i think it's a very

reasonable thing for americans to believe that if an embassy puts out a statement that at the very least the state department and defacto the obama white house would have agreed with the statements made from the embassy. we can't -- if we can't make -- joe, if we can't make the a assumptions today the question goes to the chairman of the rnc. >> i don't think they put out a statement of sympathizing with the situation, correct? >> okay. so if you're making excuses, if you're trying to put yourself in the shoes of these people who eventually breached the security perimeter of the egyptian embassy, if you're trying to make -- come up with reasons for their actions, coming out of the embassy's own, you know, fax machine i think the real questions need to be directed to

the white house, not to me. >> thanks so much for that. a really good conversation. covered a lot of ground here. appreciate it. >> all right. thank you, pal. we are unraveling the mystery of the movie that's blamed for sparking the middle east violence. up next, first pictures of the man behind the video. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ]

it's bringing the future forward.

nah. [ dennis' voice ] i bet he's got an allstate agent. they can save you up to 30% more by bundling your policies. well his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. are you in good hands?

we are getting the first look at the mystery filmmaker

whose anti-muslim video fueling deadly anti-american protests around the world. cnn's miguel mar quez on the story from day one. what's the latest you're finding out? >> reporter: a lot of nakoula basseley nakoula and the actors and what's on the line for mr. nakoula. nakoula basseley nakoula, the man at the heart of a crude of anti-islamic propaganda, cnn obtained the first picture in the u.s. of gnaw cow la trying to keep the identify hidden from the world. was it your sense he was the writer and producer? >> yes. yeah. i really believe he was the writer. he definitely was the producer. he was the one writing the checks, handing out the money. he was running the show. >> reporter: nakoula posing in charge of the production writing the scripts, even paying the actors. how much were you paid for this

film? >> probably $500. altogether. >> caller: three or four days of work? >> yeah. >> reporter: on the checks name and signature, the same name on the call sheet that actors and crew got every day and one of the ads seeking actors that name again. with the slightly different spelling. significant because the probation order for nakoula basseley nakoula clearly states he can not use for any manner or purpose the legal name without prior written approval of the probation officer. authorities aren't saying whether he is a legal name. nakoula basseley nakoula was convicted of bank fraud and identity theft in 2010 and on five years probation. it appears the efforts to lie the way out of trouble knew no bounds and news broke of the involvement in the video he called the head of the continuic orthodox church in los angeles seeking apurns. >> he said i -- i called to

assure you that is i am not behind this. he said that is now they try to avoid any confrontation with israel. that's why they picked his name. that's what he said. but of course, it proved to be false. >> reporter: apparently to -- another lie by a man under pressure to finally tell the truth. now, l.a. county sheriff's deputies picked up mr. nakoula this weekend and took him to see the probation officer and did not return him to his house and then early this morning deputies picked up the family, reunited them at a sheriff's location and then drove off to an undisclosed location. at this point, he is not under arrest or in custody. not on house arrest but it's very clear that authorities are looking in to everything here, joe. >> miguel, thanks so much for that. the world's most watched royal couple in the south

pacific. max foster is there live and spoke with prince william and his wife about the latest scandal. find out what they said next. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy -- and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. we've shared what we've learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely.

i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america than in any other country. in fact, over the last five years, no other energy company has invested more in the us than bp. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger.

new developments in the royal scandal over topless photos of prince william's wife. while the duke and duchess are on vacation, the lawyers have gone to court to try to block the pictures from public view. max foster is traveling with the royal couple. max, you met will and kate just yesterday. what can you tell us about their mood? >> reporter: well, their mood is that they are carrying on, putting a brave face on, trying to put this to the back of their

minds while out in public. in the solomon islands. behind the scenes, they are working flat out on this legal because over the last few days, they've been heavily involved in briefing lawyers and telling them what they expect and essentially, whatever legal means are at their disposal at these court cases in france. there are civil proceedings to stop the pictures from being released and that the editor will end up in jail and the photographer, even though they don't know who it is. they're trying to identify who it is, but they've made criminal complaints at least to the authorities, hoping the prosecutors will -- others are publishing these pictures. an irish newspaper published they will over the weekend.

the editor has been suspended because there was such a public backlash. the palace are working on a pr campaign as much as a legal campaign on this one. >> give me some sense. they are on a royal tour. what's the agenda? what's the point of it? >> well, the royal tour is on behalf of the queen and her diamond jubilee year and there are 16 countries around the world where she's head of state, so she's dispatched her family out over this year to represent her and she came decades ago to this island in the solomons and this is the latest visit from a royal family, so they're hugely excited here. they're not talking about the topless shots at all. they're just very excited to have them here. this is their future head of state. they have afraid at the couple because they want to do their best, but she feels so humiliated by these pictures and it must be incredibly difficult

to know when she's going into one of these engagements and for william, it's pure anger. he keeps getting these references to diana, who died with paparazzi surrounding her. he grew up with them hounding her and so upset about that. it's defining for him, really, and he's starting to see that happen to his wife and he's determined to see that that doesn't happen, so he's spearheading this, making sure this magazine knows how he feels and where the line is. >> i have to ask you, here in the united states, this would be handling much differently. we'd have something you call invasion of privacy. it would be in the civil courts. there would be no criminal case. could you sort of explain to our viewers how the publishing of these photographs would become a criminal case in your realm? >> well, it is a crime in france, very tough prifsy laws.

it is a crime and that's why they have a case there. in france, often, you have celebrities coming up with these injunctions in the civil courts and going for a criminal case as well. the fact they are going for the french case and not the italian one for example is that they have a better chance of winning that. >> thanks so much, in solomon islands, where it's tuesday morning, isn't it? >> reporter: it certainly is. bright and early. it's very nice. up next, cockroaches with cameras and computer chips that actually save lives. you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffer's. starts with ground beef, unions, and peppers baked in a ketchup glaze with savory gravy and mashed russet potatoes. what makes stouffer's meatloaf best of all? that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. let's fix dinner.

♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

o0 c1 how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. stop! stop! stop! come back here! humans -- we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back with great ideas like our optional better car replacement. if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask one of our insurance experts about it today. hello?! we believe our customers do their best

out there in the world, and we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. [car alarm blaring] call now and also ask about our 24/7 support and service. call... and lock in your rate for 12 months today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? cockroaches finally found a positive purpose in life. >> next time you see a roach and

panic, try imagining its coming to rescue you wearing a computer chip backpack you're looking at a prototype from a search and rescue roach. >> biological robots. >> dr. boscurt and his electrical engineering students at north carolina state university have been installing circuit boards and micro controllers on madagascar hissing roaches using a joy stick, they can steer them on the pathway by applying a tiny electrical current to sensors on the bug. now zapping the antennas keeping the roach in line. stimulating the antenna makes the roach think there's an obstacle from which it veers away. riding a horse, pulling on

reigns to direct it. the roach is sort of the cousin to the mule designed to carry 400 pounds worth of stuff or the robo cheetah that goes over 28 miles per hour or the fictional robo spider in minority report. the roaches getting zapped would be the good guys going where neither dog nor man could fit, equipped with senators to find those in rubble. it has an $880,000 grant from the national science foundation when the top of the antenna gets chopped off and electrode inserted, some animal lovers may hiss. some say it's hard to know what a roach feels. they have nerves, yet such a primitive system it's likely they don't